Slings have been employed with hand-carried firearms by both hunters and military personnel for many years. The purpose of such devices is to relieve the bearer from the burden of carrying the firearm (normally a rifle) with his arms except during those periods of time in which it is anticipated that the firearm will be used or is actually being used. A soldier may frequently be required to carry other equipment or ammunition with his hands for some distance. The conventional rifle sling, although permitting a rifle to be carried by a soldier while freeing his hands to perform other tasks, does not permit access to the weapon as readily as is normally desired in a combat situation. Thus, the conventional sling, a flexible strap connected at one end to a terminal at the forward or muzzle end of the firearm and at the other end to the gun stock (normally on the underside of the rear portion of the stock) permits the firearm to be either suspended from one shoulder of the bearer or to be carried diagonally across the back of the firearm bearer. In the event that the weapon must be aimed and discharged quickly, both of the above-described carrying positions require time to reorient the weapon, time which may not be available. The manipulations are made additionally cumbersome when the bearer is wearing thick or heavy clothing or is restricted in his movements by his surroundings.
The subject invention is directed then to a sling adapter and sling assembly which serves in large measure to alleviate the problems described above.